Layn’ The Smack Down

The WWE and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets have a bit of a problem. Both are slated to be in Denver next Monday. The Nuggets are to host the LA Lakers in the Conference finals while the WWE has booked the arena for their show Monday Night Raw. There does not seem to a clear direction on how this is going to end but you get the feeling that it should end with a steel cage match rather then any litigation or legal involvement.

Any PR for the WWE is good PR and this is all good for them. There have been many statements put forth by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon that have called out Stan Kroenke (owner of the Nuggets and the Pepsi Centre). The WWE who reserved the Pepsi Center on Aug. 15 and had already sold more than 10,000 tickets for its the Monday Night Raw event. It would appear that Yanni has more power then the WWE as the NHL bowed to him whereas the NBA has said that the playoff date is not movable and for the Nuggets to figure it out themselves, but basketball was going to be played in Denver that night.

So far McMahon has stated "Quite frankly, it's my view that Stan Kroenke should be arrested, should be arrested for impersonating a good businessman, because he's not a good businessman," McMahon said on ESPN. "A good businessman doesn't book a World Wrestling Federation live televised event on Monday night realizing that his team in all likelihood would not make the playoffs." and McMahon blamed Kroenke for not believing his team was good enough to still be playing in mid-May.

"The fans in Denver had a lot more faith in making the playoffs than the owner." Ironically it sounds just like an interview you would see on RAW.

Rest assured they will come to a resolution and the WWE will come out ahead in the public opinion poll and will no doubt be well compensated. Worse case scenario McMahon said he needs to fulfill his obligation to the USA network and put on a card...even if it means putting on a show in a parking lot. (And don’t think for a second that he would do it and it would probably be a success.

Here is a great Idea for a match - a Battle Royal between the Nuggets Cheerleaders and the WWE Divas....then everyone is a winner.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

At least it was for the Blackhawks Adam Burish who took a teammates skate in the neck. He was very lucky that it was just a glancing blow and was just a flesh wound and he was able to stay in the game. It could have been a very bad situation as we have seen with Richard Zednik not that long ago.

Beyond that it was a very busy Sunday with a little something for just about any sports fan.
~There was the Game 1 in the NHL Playoffs between the Red Wings and the Blackhawks.The Wings managed to outwork the Hawks and take Game 1 at home.

~Then there was The game seven in the NBA between the LA Lakers and the Houston Rockets. This was a series that became a lot closer then most thought it would be. With a depleted Houston team missing 2 of its stars they managed to give the Lakers a scare. This was essentially a series of home court advantages. It seemed that the visiting team could never get going and the home team just played with a swagger. It is crazy that the home court in the NBA seems to carry so much more weight then in any other sport. LA had home court advantage and rolled to an easy win. Now they have to turn their focus to the Denver Nuggets. Hmmm, Kobe in Colorado again this could go bad but the potential for jokes may prove to be epic!

~Want more hockey? Then there was the Memorial Cup with Rimouski playing Windsor. In what figured to be a game that Windsor should have the advantage in turned out to not be that way. The home crowd may have been an extra player for Rimouski and they played with a lot of emotion and managed to knock off the OHL champs 5-4. The loss could prove to be an exit ticket for the Spitfires and sets Rimouski up to go further then you would have thought after game 1 versus Kelowna. In a crazy finish with the Windsor goaltender out the Oceanic managed to hold off the furious attack until the clock struck 0:00.

~ Again a game 7 in the NBA. This was the defending champion Boston Celtics in tough versus the Orlando Magic. The Garnett-less Celtics couldn’t keep up with the 3 point shooting of the Magic and wound up falling to the younger team from Orlando. The game was never that close and the end result was never really in doubt as the “Truth” Paul Pierce just didn’t have it on this day and Dwight Howard and crew rolled for the right to face LeBron James in the Conference Finals.

~Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal to end his 33-match winning streak on clay 6-4, 6-4. This is either a great sign going into the French Open that Federer may actually be able to upset Nadal in Paris. Either that or he has just opened Nadal’s eyes and have re-focused him and only make him stronger and more dangerous.

~ Usain Bolt, the worlds fastest man, ran the world's fastest 150 metres to win a soggy street sprint in England. He won the race 14.35 seconds, breaking Canadian Donovan Bailey's 12-year-old world best of 14.99 in the rarelyy run150 m. This was also his first race since being sidelined after a car crash that required him to have foot surgery.

And this doesn’t include any of the baseball games or touch on any of the events of Saturday which saw the less then impressive return to the pool by Olympic hero Michael Phelps after his suspension and questionable behaviour of late and Rachel Alexandra becoming the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924,doing so with the Kentucky Derby winner and feisty Mine That Bird nipping at her heels in the final stretch. If she does run in the Belmont she may be considered one of the greatest of all time.

Around The Horn

President Obama welcomed the National Champion North Carolina Tar Heals basketball team to the White House. Earlier in the year Obama scrimmaged with the players during a campaign visit to Chapel Hill and then went on to pick them to win it all in his bracket. Obama stated “I’m not sure whose luck rubbed off on who.” and thanked them “for salvaging my bracket and vindicating me before the entire nation.” Obama is known to play a little round ball and is apparently pretty good at it. Even though he is from Chicago he clearly has some fondness for the Tar Heals. I wonder who was more excited about the visit, Roy Williams and his team or the President himself?

A message to Kenyon Martin, apparently “yo momma” isn’t safe from the trash talk any more then you are. Mark Cuban’s latest outburst had a verbal altercation with Kenyon Martin’s mom. Apparently a fan yelled out that the Denver Nuggets were “thugs” and that he told her “That includes your son.” Another version of the story as presented by Martin’s agents stated that Cuban said to Martin’s mom “Your son is a punk,” and he claimed that that comment was unprovoked. There are always 3 sides to every story...his version, her version and the truth. Whichever one you choose to believe it is still funny.

Maria Sharapova plans to be back on tour next week. She had been sidelined by shoulder surgery but plans to play her first competitive tournament in nearly 10 months on the clay-court tournament in Warsaw, Poland.
Finally I can start paying some attention to woman’s tennis again.

Vikings president says team still assessing Favre situation. How is this issue even in the news?
Only 2 question...why is this still news and should we even care? The on-again-off-again saga on Brett Favre will wind up doing him more harm then good. His legacy won’t be hurt on the merits of what he does or doesn’t do on the field through production or jumping from 1 team to another...players more and that is the way the NFL is set up. It is the Soap Opera that is so mind numbing and aggravating to fans and surely has to be hurting him in the court of public opinion. Stay, Go whatever but just end it once and for all.